Meet Samantha – New Contributor at Jetsetter’s Homestead

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We might have uttered the phrase “those kids today” one time too many around the homestead this year. We aren’t old, not by any stretch. But we aren’t getting any younger either. And we definitely aren’t millennials. But that’s okay. After all, we still feel young… and that’s what counts. We survived our 20s and 30s – and already have the passport stamps and million miler milestones to show for it.

That said, we know that our travel patterns and aspirations are different now. Sometimes a different perspective is good. We often get that in our own social circle where we are among the more sage (read: oldest) in the group. When we trade stories, we are reminded of a time when our own priorities (and budgets) were different.

And that’s why Jetsetter’s Homestead welcomes a new contributing writer from that very circle – Samantha Smith.

I’ll give you the lowdown from Samantha’s official bio mixed in with some commentary of my own. She’s a geologist/GIS analyst working for an oil and gas company in Fort Worth. She studied meteorites, asteroids, and planets for her masters degree which makes her a very smart cookie indeed.

She is great at maximizing her vacation days by traveling over holidays and finding spontaneous weekend getaways. I’m always in awe at the cool trips that she finds and plans. This weekend, for example, she is at the BottleRock music festival in Napa. (Last night while Jim and I were watching the Lumineers and waiting for U2 to take the stage, she was sending me pictures of Warren G performing.) Other interesting recent trips have included a National Geographic adventure to Iceland, a Disney trip, and a jaunt to the UK.

Like many millennial travelers who aren’t traveling much for business, she may not be privy to many travel statuses. But she utilizes her credit card privileges, points, and scours the internet for the best deals and upgrade opportunities.

In her free time she does CrossFit, trains for marathons, cheers on her Horned Frogs, and fiddles with too many DIY projects at her new condo. She’s also a black belt in karate and has a slight QVC obsession. (As far as that last part goes, on various occasions where the two of us have mixed cocktails and QVC, my credit card spend has gotten a workout. Among my drink-fueled acquisitions, a red Vitamix blender, an Amazon Echo, and way too many Philosophy bath gels to count.)

We look forward to her occasional contributions and millennial perspective on travel. First up will be her review of WOW Air.

Jennifer is a management consultant and avid volunteer. Her career and volunteer duty travels have helped her log top-tier airline and hotel status annually for the last eighteen years. In addition, she embraces the opportunity to maximize her vacation time by planning extracurricular trips that have taken her to over 60 countries and 48.5 US states. Although she averages 200 days a year on the road, she loves to return to “the homestead” in her native Fort Worth, Texas where she enjoys cooking, gardening, sewing, needlepoint, wine, and cocktail mixology.